Swept Away
by LadyKatie0511
Summary: Just a what if for a pivotal scene in New Moon.  Jacob and Bella if they just gave in for one night.


**A/N -Okay guys, this is just a little one shot. I was reading through New Moon after watching it on cable recently. There's a scene in the book and the movie where she runs to him in the rain and Jacob can't tell her anything that is going on. Later he shows up in her bedroom to tell her she already knows. Bella tells Jacob that they can run away together. Well in my wonderings I thought what if they left? What if they ran away together? So now you know our starting point, here's just a little something. Bella wanting Jacob and Jacob holding back for a reason that Bella can't possibly put her finger on.**

"Just one night Bella, than right back here." He'd said it so desperately, crushed against me. If one night was all we had, I wanted to show him everything we meant to each other. I'd hurt him so badly at the movies, telling him I didn't feel things I knew I had. Fighting the love I had for Jacob, just for the lost hope of him…it was tearing me apart. I had just one night to convince him, far away from our realities and the forces that were pulling us apart.

We'd spent a mini vacation here, far enough away from anyone we knew to act however we wanted to. To answer questions from strangers as we'd never be brave enough to tell those who knew us. This beach had become our own personal oasis. For one night only people could assume whatever they liked. We were in love surely, but all the other wondering glances were fun to guess. As I checked into the hotel and checked on our restaurants reservations they'd referred to me as a Mrs. and instead of correcting him I bowed my head and buried the deep crimson spreading truth across my face. Such a large part of me wanted to belong to him this way. I reveled in the attention, stunned that anyone would believe I was good enough for him, that what we'd put on display for just one evening was anything close to believable. It burned a passion inside me that only he'd be able to control and eventually consume.

Back in the privacy of our beach front room, I'd made him my sanctuary. As I lay there with him, beside him, underneath him, anyway he desired me it all became so concrete. He'd come back into my life when I thought I was dead. I was mere animation in a body. Nothing left to give, nothing left to hope for, and reduced to the weak and breakable person someone had always said I was. But Jacob had needed me, to be strong for him, to believe in him. He'd done something for me no one else had managed. He made me feel powerful and safe in the same breath. He'd been man enough to know when I could manage things on my own and he'd trusted me to know I'd lean on him when I really needed it. Jacob was warm, wonderful sunlight that had taken the chill off my life. Together we'd found purpose and direction that saved my life.

I could smell him before I felt his arms around me. I took a deep breath in. He always smelled clean. Just plain soap too, nothing fancy or overdone. No cologne to cover up anything else, just soap, the woods on his skin and him. He didn't need anything else. Never did. I felt his arms tighten around me, bringing my back to his chest where I could feel the steady beat of his heart. In this rhythm, with the warmth of his strong body around me I could finally sleep. It had been months, long harsh cold and lonely months since I felt so safe, so comfortable. I was drifting quickly, I could feel the sensation of completeness taking me over, wholes closing in and the overwhelming feeling that I was home here was lulling me to sleep. My eyelids were growing heavier when he whispered in my ear and kissed the hollow part in my neck.

"Half my soul, and now I'm home."

And I couldn't agree more. He was reading me like an old and treasured book. He knew me from cover to cover. It felt amazing, it felt real. He was always all encompassing like this, the center of my universe as long as he was around, and endless dark when he was away.

The next morning the real sun warmed my skin and brought with it the slow realization that real life would creep back into my man made paradise today. I rolled over to assess his state of awareness. His breathing was still long and even, his frame completely relaxed. I crawled out from under his heavy arm, grabbed his shirt off the chair shrugged it over my shoulders letting its length cover me to my knees and walked outside to rest my elbows on the balcony. In front of me the usually busy pier was empty, the grains of sand untouched by foot steps, the only sounds coming from the ocean. I loved it here, we loved it here. We'd wandered to First Beach and a few others just like this many nights together. He'd first surrendered his feelings at a beach like this. It was only fitting that we'd find our escape and our truth here.

As I watched the grains of sand wash away with little protest, I thought of us. Our meaning, our very definition was laid out in front of me.

I, the shore and he the ocean, I was happy this way. I was content with being safe and grounded. A happy homecoming for anytime he felt lost. Happy to let pieces of me go and make him more whole, drifting along silently ebbing and gaining as he carved a new surface into my heart. He'd come and go as he pleased, changing with the moon, the alignment of the earth, who knew really. So much of him was warm and inviting, as crystal clear as the sky, reflecting back in to me so many of the same wants and needs, a mirror image to my dreams for the future. I'd let countless days and nights pass this way. Hoping to find a way to trick his very nature to stretch as far away as possible and make him stay just a moment longer. Time was always the enemy. The more I begged for him to stay, the more he receded back into dark and cold, shut out places I couldn't go. Depths I couldn't reach and he wouldn't let me settle into.

I waited on the balcony, watching the sea and sand come together more naturally than any other wonder of the world. What was he hiding from me? Two strong arms encircled my waist and I felt his breath on my neck. He whispered to me over the sounds of his ocean.

"It's beautiful here, you know? I haven't slept so well in years."

I sighed and melted into him as much as possible. Letting my head nuzzle perfectly under his chin.

"Mmmm, I know, me too." I breathed out. "It's so easy to get swept away."

And I wondered to myself as we stood there together just how long high tide would last with him today. Whose need for him was greater than mine? What force stronger than our love?


End file.
